January 19, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

MUST READS

A January 18, 2017 WOKV article reported that Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville Florida campus is receiving $1.6 million in grants for Alzheimer’s research from the Florida Department of Health, on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Grant Advisory Board. Kevin Bieniek, a post-doctoral research fellow, will benefit from the funding. “There are so many people that get Alzheimer’s disease that have no family history of this disorder,” Bieniek told WOKV. “It’s really a complex interaction of your genetics; the environment; your lifestyle; there are so many factors that come into play.”

A January 17, 2017 Los Angeles Times article reported on a study involving more than 500 participants aged 90 and older, where UC Irvine researchers say the onset of high blood pressure at a late age is associated with a lower risk of dementia after age 90. "Hypertension is bad in the young, midlife or elderly. But what we're seeing is that if it's developed in later life, that may be a good thing,” says Maria Corrada, UCI professor of neurology and epidemiology and first author of the study. The study was published online in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Assn.

A January 14, 2017 CantonRep article tells the story of Rev. Warren Chavers, who is battling Alzheimer's disease. The longtime Canton minister relies on his wife, Adrienne, and a close network of friends and family. "The VA Hospital has a geriatric program that specializes in dementia," shares Adrienne Chavers. "It is the only one in the country and Warren is now part of that program. A wonderful treatment team has been working with us since Dec. 27, and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted concerning Warren's care. They not only care about the patient but the caregiver.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, and TECHNOLOGY

A January 17, 2017 Science Daily article reported on research that could one day lead to advances against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s. University of Michigan engineering researchers have demonstrated a technique for precisely measuring the properties of individual protein molecules floating in a liquid. Proteins are essential to the function of every cell. Measuring their properties in blood and other body fluids could unlock valuable information, as the molecules are a vital building block in the body. Sometimes proteins don't form properly, but the processes are not well understood and there is currently no good way to study them. University of Michigan and University of Fribourg researchers developed a new technique they call a "5-D fingerprint.” "Imagine the challenge of identifying a specific person based only on their height and weight," said David Sept, a U-M biomedical engineering professor who worked on the project. "That's essentially the challenge we face with current techniques. Imagine how much easier it would be with additional descriptors like gender, hair color and clothing. That's the kind of new information 5-D fingerprinting provides, making it much easier to identify specific proteins."